The Associated PressJoe Burton had 12 points and seven rebounds Thursday for Oregon State.CORVALLIS -- Joe Burton was starting to answer a question after Oregon State’s 80-64 victory over California when teammate Roeland Schaftenaar entered the Gill Coliseum media room and made his way to the podium to join Burton.

Burton stopped answering and said, “Wait. Superstar coming.”

He might not be a superstar, but Schaftenaar was certainly the star of game. The senior has been seriously MIA for stretches of the season, but on Thursday he tied his season high with 22 points and was as aggressive offensively as he’s ever been at OSU.

But Burton, a freshman, was at least a best supporting player to Schaftenaar after a breakout performance that could help turn around opinion about Craig Robinson’s first recruiting class.

Certainly, fans at Gill Coliseum seemed as if they had been won over. After the arena had cleared, Burton made his way back to the press table for a radio interview with Mike Parker. A straggling fan spotted him and yelled, “Way to go, Burton!”

That was on top of two standing ovations he received.

Burton was terrific Thursday, getting 12 points and seven rebounds and making three great hustle plays that endeared him to the 6,609 at Gill. Twice, he dove into the stands in pursuit of a loose ball, including once over the Cal bench.

Late in the game, he rebounded a missed OSU shot, went up but missed, but he stayed with the play, wrestled the ball back for another offensive rebound, then powered up for a layup. He also was fouled, and he made the free throw for a crowd-pleasing three-point play.

Burton is part of Robinson’s first recruiting class. Guard Jared Cunningham has made a significant impact, starting the last seven games, and he had 11 points, two assists, two steals and a one of his signature breakaway dunks Thursday.

Burton, though, hadn’t had that kind of impact. Although at 6-7, 290 pounds, he gives OSU some much-needed physical presence, he also makes enough mistakes that Robinson has been quick to yank him from games.

On Thursday, though, driven by a loud home crowd, he played free and loose. I asked him if he had felt, being part of a touted class, that he wanted to make an impact, as Cunningham had.

“I always want to get out there and have a chance to showcase my talent, but it’s just one of those things where everything goes your way,” he said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but everything goes right that night for you.”

Burton was involved in a big play in the second half when he became entangled with Cal’s own man mountain, Markhuri Sanders-Frison, the former Jefferson High player. Burton was trying to get post position against the physical Sanders-Frison, and Sanders-Frison was called for a foul, then a technical after he appeared to shove Burton.

The technical was Sanders-Frison’s fifth foul, meaning Cal had to play the final 8:21 without the one player who showed real scrap..

“It’s just basketball,” Burton said. “Everybody’s being competitive. He’s trying to win, I’m trying to win. We went down to the paint, we kind of bumped, he said something, I said something, so it just went down. We’re just trying to get position, and it kind of got out of hand and they called a technical on him.”

After the game, in the line to shake hands, the two big men embraced.

“It’s just competition -- enemies on the court, friends off the court,” Burton said. “We reconciled and called a truce off the court, so everything’s cool.”

Also cool -- Burton made a three-pointer. It was his first attempt of the season, and he smoothly made it within the flow of the offense, with the shot clock was winding down.

In Robinson’s Princeton offense -- the coach hates it when you call it that, by the way -- players are supposed to be interchangeable, with any player dribbling, passing or shooting. But everyone in Gill certainly seemed shocked when Burton took the shot, and then surprised that he made it.

It was almost another standing O.

The play was supposed to be a dribble, drive and kick out to the shooter -- pretty basic basketball. Another big man, Kevin McShane, made the driver and pass, and Burton had a clean shot at the elbow. It was perfectly within the flow of the offense.

Burton laughed, though, when I asked if would start chucking up threes now.

“Yeah, one per every two weeks is fine,” he said.

It’s just one game, but Burton and Cunningham showed what the future could be like at Gill. Another player in their class, Roberto Nelson, hasn’t played at all this season because of academic hurdles, but anyone who has seen him at practice says he is the team’s best offensive player and shooter.

Thursday’s win over first-place Cal could be just the start for this year’s recruits.